By JOE DODD
Coming off what Gilmer Buckeyes’ head coach Jeff Traylor called, “the best win we’ve ever had in our program,” the 11-0 Gilmer Buckeyes will take on the 6-5 Mabank Panthers at 2 p.m. Saturday at Stephen F. Austin’s Homer Bryce Stadium in Nacogdoches in the area round of the Class 3A Division I playoffs.
Gilmer’s 41-26 win over defending state champion Liberty-Eylau had been the focus for Traylor and the Buckeyes since losing to the Leopards in last year’s first round. Now that revenge has been served, can the Buckeyes shift their attention to the underdog Panthers?
“It seems like we’ve focused on L-E all year,” said senior offensive lineman David Snow. “But really it was beyond L-E, it was [a] state [championship] because it seemed like we got cheated out of it last year.”
Senior running back Justin Johnson agreed with Snow. “We’ve got a lot more good teams down the road and we’re going to prepare for them. We’re not going to take any time off; we’re going to finish the deal.”
That’s music to Traylor’s ears, who hopes that the Buckeyes’ seniors learned from the last time they faced a similar situation. “I think they’ll be able to remember how excited we were to beat Daingerfield in 2005, and then we played a Canton team that people didn’t think were as good as us, and we were not ready to play. We played one of our worst games and Canton beat us. Mabank reminds me a lot of Canton in 2005.”
Just like Canton, who ended Gilmer’s state championship defense with a 61-58 victory two years ago, the Mabank Panthers hope that the Buckeyes will have difficulty forgetting last week’s big game.
“We might be catching them at the right time,” suggested Mabank head coach Jimmy Cantrell, who is 21-21 in his four years at Mabank. “I know they’ve been thinking about Liberty-Eylau since last year. I know that was a very emotional game for them that they just won, and as a coach I know that it’s hard for a team to bounce back and play at the same level the following week.”
While Gilmer’s win over Liberty-Eylau improved Traylor’s playoff record to 11-5, Mabank’s 29-14 bi-district win over Athens was the Panthers first playoff win since 1988. Gilmer enters the game as a 27-point favorite, according to texasfootballratings.com.
Cantrell claimed this is a classic David versus Goliath match up. “That’s pretty much what it is,” said Cantrell. “It’s going to be a huge challenge for us. They’re pretty much the complete football team. It’s probably the best football team I’ve seen on film since I left the 5A ranks.”
Traylor warned Gilmer fans not to buy into that theory. “You don’t get here unless you’re pretty good. There are no bad teams left,” insisted Traylor, who points out that, “They average 34 points a game but what’s more impressive to me is their last five games where they averaged 44 points per game.”
Cantrell admits that the Panthers are coming together at the right time. “The last three weeks we’ve played extremely well on both sides of the ball. I think we’re peaking at the right time. Whether it’s going to be enough, I don’t know.” Mabank’s offense has been more than enough for most of the season, as the Panthers new scheme has paid off. “It’s called the Tony Franklin offense,” explained Traylor. “Mabank runs it, Royse City runs it, Sulphur Springs runs it. It’s the thing to do right now.”
Tony Franklin is the offensive coordinator at Troy State University. He developed the offense while coaching at Kentucky with Hal Mumme and current Texas Tech coach Mike Leach. It features a no-huddle, up-tempo, spread offense that features the passing game. Panthers’ junior quarterback Kolton Browning has broken every Mabank record this season throwing for 2,684 yards and 23 touchdowns.
The passing game was especially potent in the Panthers’ season opening 58-21 win at Rusk, when the left-handed quarterback Browning threw for 450 yards. The Panthers followed that up with a three game losing streak, caused in large part by the Panthers’ offense. “We were so one dimensional early in the season and people were defending that, so finally we had to just cut loose and run the football.”
So who did the Panthers turn to to solve their running game? Quarterback Kolton Browning, who has rushed for more than 625 yards and scored 8 touchdowns running in the last four games. “It’s been a nice surprise,” understated Cantrell, who added, “Our quarterback is pretty good at reading the secondary, and he’s got a pretty good arm. We’ve got to try to establish a running game and make them honor both sides, the run and the pass.”
Traylor praised the Panthers’ signal caller. “He can throw it, and he can run it. The offense is all about him,” Traylor said. “Mabank will make you look bad because they are so good on offense.”
Being so good on offense has allowed the Panthers’ defense time to gel. After giving up an average of 29 points per game in their first eight games, Mabank has allowed less than 12 points per game in the last three games.
“Defensively they remind me a lot of us;” confessed Traylor. “They’re scrappy, they get lined up correctly, and they play hard.”
Cantrell said the key to stopping the Buckeyes’ state-best- scoring offense is, “We’re just going to have to swarm, gang tackle, and everybody just run to the ball.”
Cantrell added that the Panther’s schedule was designed with the playoffs in mind. “We played the Whitehouses, we played the Rockwall-Heaths, we had some 4A teams scattered in there and some good 3A teams to prepare us for this moment.”
While the Panthers have faced the pressure of big games this season, they have not played in a big venue such as Homer Bryce Stadium in Nacogdoches before. “I’m going to have to deal with the awe factor with my kids,” warned Cantrell. “But all football fields are 100 yards long and they’re all 53 yards wide and they all have scoreboards in them, and the amount of seats in them doesn’t bother us any, I hope.” Playing in a large stadium in front of a giant crowd is something that the Buckeyes are accustomed to. Homer Bryce Stadium in particular has become a special place for Gilmer, who won two games there in 2004, including the last game that season — a 49-47 win over Jasper for the Class 3A Division II State Championship.
“I’ve got a lot of great memories from SFA,” admitted Traylor, who earned two degrees from the university, and met his wife there when he was a student.
But Traylor likes to focus on the present, and warned his team this week that all of the time and effort that went into the win against Liberty-Eylau could be wasted. “If we lose this game, the L-E win means nothing; we just got to play another week.
Mirror Photo / Mary Laschinger Kirby
FOUR BUCKEYES converge on Liberty-Eylau’s LaMichael James as Damien Redditt, Dakota Hagler, Mikey Wilson and Michael Pierson join their efforts to stop the elusive running back. Saturday’s opponent, the Mabank Panthers, will likely present a challenging aerial assault on offense in contrast to the Leopards’ ground game.
Mirror Photo / Mary Laschinger Kirby
USING A 2-RUNNING BACK, 2-tight end formation, which Gilmer unveiled last Friday night against Liberty-Eylau, the Buckeye line and Jeremy Jackson (32) create the hole for Justin “Bus” Johnson (22) on his fifth touchdown run of the game. The time-consuming drive in the fourth quarter ate up over seven minutes as the Buckeyes completed their drive for a bi-district championship and a 41-26 win.
Mirror Photo / Mary Laschinger Kirby
MEMBERS OF Gilmer’s offensive line, from left, David Snow, Justin Fielden, Chip Elms, Daniel Jenkins, Cody Lee and Garrett Adkins, all seniors, listen intently to their coach, Kurt Traylor, while Coach Thad Black listens to the pointers underscored during a time out Friday night at Longview’s Lobo Stadium during the bi-district game with Liberty-Eylau. Gilmer rushed for 338 yards behind its talented and gargantuan O-line to win, 41-26.
Coming off what Gilmer Buckeyes’ head coach Jeff Traylor called, “the best win we’ve ever had in our program,” the 11-0 Gilmer Buckeyes will take on the 6-5 Mabank Panthers at 2 p.m. Saturday at Stephen F. Austin’s Homer Bryce Stadium in Nacogdoches in the area round of the Class 3A Division I playoffs.
Gilmer’s 41-26 win over defending state champion Liberty-Eylau had been the focus for Traylor and the Buckeyes since losing to the Leopards in last year’s first round. Now that revenge has been served, can the Buckeyes shift their attention to the underdog Panthers?
“It seems like we’ve focused on L-E all year,” said senior offensive lineman David Snow. “But really it was beyond L-E, it was [a] state [championship] because it seemed like we got cheated out of it last year.”
Senior running back Justin Johnson agreed with Snow. “We’ve got a lot more good teams down the road and we’re going to prepare for them. We’re not going to take any time off; we’re going to finish the deal.”
That’s music to Traylor’s ears, who hopes that the Buckeyes’ seniors learned from the last time they faced a similar situation. “I think they’ll be able to remember how excited we were to beat Daingerfield in 2005, and then we played a Canton team that people didn’t think were as good as us, and we were not ready to play. We played one of our worst games and Canton beat us. Mabank reminds me a lot of Canton in 2005.”
Just like Canton, who ended Gilmer’s state championship defense with a 61-58 victory two years ago, the Mabank Panthers hope that the Buckeyes will have difficulty forgetting last week’s big game.
“We might be catching them at the right time,” suggested Mabank head coach Jimmy Cantrell, who is 21-21 in his four years at Mabank. “I know they’ve been thinking about Liberty-Eylau since last year. I know that was a very emotional game for them that they just won, and as a coach I know that it’s hard for a team to bounce back and play at the same level the following week.”
While Gilmer’s win over Liberty-Eylau improved Traylor’s playoff record to 11-5, Mabank’s 29-14 bi-district win over Athens was the Panthers first playoff win since 1988. Gilmer enters the game as a 27-point favorite, according to texasfootballratings.com.
Cantrell claimed this is a classic David versus Goliath match up. “That’s pretty much what it is,” said Cantrell. “It’s going to be a huge challenge for us. They’re pretty much the complete football team. It’s probably the best football team I’ve seen on film since I left the 5A ranks.”
Traylor warned Gilmer fans not to buy into that theory. “You don’t get here unless you’re pretty good. There are no bad teams left,” insisted Traylor, who points out that, “They average 34 points a game but what’s more impressive to me is their last five games where they averaged 44 points per game.”
Cantrell admits that the Panthers are coming together at the right time. “The last three weeks we’ve played extremely well on both sides of the ball. I think we’re peaking at the right time. Whether it’s going to be enough, I don’t know.” Mabank’s offense has been more than enough for most of the season, as the Panthers new scheme has paid off. “It’s called the Tony Franklin offense,” explained Traylor. “Mabank runs it, Royse City runs it, Sulphur Springs runs it. It’s the thing to do right now.”
Tony Franklin is the offensive coordinator at Troy State University. He developed the offense while coaching at Kentucky with Hal Mumme and current Texas Tech coach Mike Leach. It features a no-huddle, up-tempo, spread offense that features the passing game. Panthers’ junior quarterback Kolton Browning has broken every Mabank record this season throwing for 2,684 yards and 23 touchdowns.
The passing game was especially potent in the Panthers’ season opening 58-21 win at Rusk, when the left-handed quarterback Browning threw for 450 yards. The Panthers followed that up with a three game losing streak, caused in large part by the Panthers’ offense. “We were so one dimensional early in the season and people were defending that, so finally we had to just cut loose and run the football.”
So who did the Panthers turn to to solve their running game? Quarterback Kolton Browning, who has rushed for more than 625 yards and scored 8 touchdowns running in the last four games. “It’s been a nice surprise,” understated Cantrell, who added, “Our quarterback is pretty good at reading the secondary, and he’s got a pretty good arm. We’ve got to try to establish a running game and make them honor both sides, the run and the pass.”
Traylor praised the Panthers’ signal caller. “He can throw it, and he can run it. The offense is all about him,” Traylor said. “Mabank will make you look bad because they are so good on offense.”
Being so good on offense has allowed the Panthers’ defense time to gel. After giving up an average of 29 points per game in their first eight games, Mabank has allowed less than 12 points per game in the last three games.
“Defensively they remind me a lot of us;” confessed Traylor. “They’re scrappy, they get lined up correctly, and they play hard.”
Cantrell said the key to stopping the Buckeyes’ state-best- scoring offense is, “We’re just going to have to swarm, gang tackle, and everybody just run to the ball.”
Cantrell added that the Panther’s schedule was designed with the playoffs in mind. “We played the Whitehouses, we played the Rockwall-Heaths, we had some 4A teams scattered in there and some good 3A teams to prepare us for this moment.”
While the Panthers have faced the pressure of big games this season, they have not played in a big venue such as Homer Bryce Stadium in Nacogdoches before. “I’m going to have to deal with the awe factor with my kids,” warned Cantrell. “But all football fields are 100 yards long and they’re all 53 yards wide and they all have scoreboards in them, and the amount of seats in them doesn’t bother us any, I hope.” Playing in a large stadium in front of a giant crowd is something that the Buckeyes are accustomed to. Homer Bryce Stadium in particular has become a special place for Gilmer, who won two games there in 2004, including the last game that season — a 49-47 win over Jasper for the Class 3A Division II State Championship.
“I’ve got a lot of great memories from SFA,” admitted Traylor, who earned two degrees from the university, and met his wife there when he was a student.
But Traylor likes to focus on the present, and warned his team this week that all of the time and effort that went into the win against Liberty-Eylau could be wasted. “If we lose this game, the L-E win means nothing; we just got to play another week.
Mirror Photo / Mary Laschinger Kirby
FOUR BUCKEYES converge on Liberty-Eylau’s LaMichael James as Damien Redditt, Dakota Hagler, Mikey Wilson and Michael Pierson join their efforts to stop the elusive running back. Saturday’s opponent, the Mabank Panthers, will likely present a challenging aerial assault on offense in contrast to the Leopards’ ground game.
Mirror Photo / Mary Laschinger Kirby
USING A 2-RUNNING BACK, 2-tight end formation, which Gilmer unveiled last Friday night against Liberty-Eylau, the Buckeye line and Jeremy Jackson (32) create the hole for Justin “Bus” Johnson (22) on his fifth touchdown run of the game. The time-consuming drive in the fourth quarter ate up over seven minutes as the Buckeyes completed their drive for a bi-district championship and a 41-26 win.
Mirror Photo / Mary Laschinger Kirby
MEMBERS OF Gilmer’s offensive line, from left, David Snow, Justin Fielden, Chip Elms, Daniel Jenkins, Cody Lee and Garrett Adkins, all seniors, listen intently to their coach, Kurt Traylor, while Coach Thad Black listens to the pointers underscored during a time out Friday night at Longview’s Lobo Stadium during the bi-district game with Liberty-Eylau. Gilmer rushed for 338 yards behind its talented and gargantuan O-line to win, 41-26.
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